FastFood on deviantart: http://fastfood.deviantart.com/gallery/

Of course they could have used the old pictures from FoF.

What really rubs me the wrong way is the detail to light handguns, chemistry and explosives, while vehicles are lacking... and of course the Sensor 'rules' are FUBAR.

Danke. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Gern geschehen. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

(You're welcome).

I missed dikote originally but when the nostalgia wore off I smiled and realized that I wouldn't have to field 10 billion questions about what it can and can't be put on and how much it would cost and whycan'tweputmultiplelayersonandonoonono.

I'm not really sure that dikote added much to the SR universe except to give players a couple extra generic points of kill or make their now obsolete deck a bullet sponge (because a half millimeter layer of diamond evidently makes things invunerable, since you know... nothing can chip/cut/or destroy diamond, it's the fiercest mineral in the mineral kingdom...)

Not to say Dikote ever made sense, but just retconning it out ... stinks.

Easy enough to re-retcon it in as some standard coating (without DP effect) on most modern weapons.

Exactly what I was going to say. Sure it's stat inflation (deflation?) but it's been out for like... what, 20 years? I'm pretty sure someone has smeared it, economically, on anything worth smearing it on.

That would have deserved a mention, though, wouldn't it? Just to, you know, tie SR4 a bit in with what used to be Shadowrun? And that's all I'm relly asking for ... I always found it absurd that you could kill a tank with a pointy stick covered with little diamonds, that doesn't need to be put in. But just pretending it never existed is ... just as dumb.

I dunno, as a writer, I have zero hesitation retconning stupid stuff out of the game for the sake of balance or sanity. Putting something ridiculous in just because it was there before isn't good reasoning, in my view.

I'm not sure it would have bene worth the ink to put in a line "Remember Dikote? It's on everything so stop asking" it would be nice in an errata. I look at the books as a resource for new players as well as old and referring to obsolete tech (like taking time to describe the intricacies of the old smartlink systems) is not something I'd really care for in new material.

Sorry, but when writing stuff for an established setting, this will detach your work from that setting. Maybe you should write up your own system, then. And Doc Taotsu's suggestion would really be all there'd be to ask for. Not too much, is it?

I see where removing some things from the setting would detach the writing from the established setting, but I just don't see Dikote as significant enough to be one of those things.

There's nothing wrong with DocTaotsu's suggestion, I just disagree with the idea that it is necessary.

Now I didn't write anything for Arsenal so my personal feelings weren't involved in the decision, and usually a developer makes those kind of calls anyway, not a writer. I'm just stating my opinion that I don't feel particularly bound to include things that the developer staff and the writer staff have agreed no longer belong in the game.

Thank Rob and Malik Toms in equal measures for that. I wasnae working alone.

Re: Dikote
It wasn't a retcon to /not/ mention it, but it wasn't included specifically because its effects were silly and improbable. That's not to say it might not show up again (gasp! Horrors! Ohnoes!) but definitely not in the same form as it had in Shadowtech.

Now that you mention it, it's pretty easy to spot Biometal79's work in Arsenal. You even managed to sneak in the Vindicator he did. Sweet.

Shame you didn't use that alien biodrone thing as the Tomino...

Has anyone else noticed that the LTA mod can be applied to any vehicle?

I was thinking Conestoga Vista...

I haven't gotten my copy of Arsenal yet; I'm still going through Augmentation. But I'm very excited for Arsenal.

As far as artwork in any RPG supplement goes, if you're not happy with the representation of a piece of gear or something, google "futuristic weapons" or get out your pencil and make your own, or print pictures from the internet off your favorite artist's website; you can tuck it into your copy of the book, tape it, sticky-note it, whatever, and use it to show your gaming group what YOUR equipment looks like. The art in the book is a representation of what the developers and artists thought the gear looked like, and it's subject to the same ABSOLUTE RULE OF GAMING as the rules are: "It's YOUR game. Change it."

Also, if something that was in an old edition of SR was left out and you want it, convert it up and put it back in. The developers get to decide what is canon; they get to give you suggestions and ideas so you don't have to think up everything on your own. But if you want Dikote...use it. If you don't like Emotitoys...don't include them in YOUR shadowrun universe.



SR4 is not SR3. Be happy they're keeping it as closely related as they are: have you seen how White Wolf has reincarnated their World of Darkness games? Now there's an established setting that's been turned on it's head.

I for one send out a huge Kudos to -all- the work that was/is put into the new Shadowrun material, as it's coming out fast and it's good quality. I for one am glad the days of "I wonder what's out for SR4 lately? Oh...nothing yet," are over and lots of cool supplements are coming out. As long as the development team is pumping out material like it has been, I'm MORE than overjoyed to fudge my own stats for a sportscar or a tank.

Thanks CGL / SR Developers/Writers!

P.S. The Arsenal cover lady's Crotch Of Unusual Size might have something to do with the fact that her left leg is a cyberlimb. I doubt very much that such a limb would end -perfectly- at the biki-line.

I also read something somewhere (don't remember where) mentioning god-awful large arms that were off scale. In the book, there's something about having larger-than-normal cyberlimbs to fit more capacity for mods, so i wouldn't even say those arms are too large. That cyberarm looks pretty kickass.

The one problem I -do- have with the cover is that I can't see her other hand, or what's attatched to it / held in it!

I have to agree with with JeffSZ here... SR4 could have been the newest White Wolf and we could all be wondering why there aren't any orks anymore. For that matter it could have been what D&D 4 is becoming "WoW! Now with more dice and redundant classes!". I'm pretty happy how all this has turned out and I'm not at all ready to jump on the designers screaming "STOP RAPING MY GAME!"

But sure, there are things I wish had been done differently and there certainly are so legitimate concerns about Rigger rules and so forth. Nitpicking the art is something I do because it's what I've done since the first time I picked up SR2. I'd probably still buy their books if they didn't have any art to speak of (it'd be kinda lame and I hope it'd cost less but that's how I am). However, I'm still buyin their damn books so it can't all be bad (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

OMG DIKOTED HORRORS!

You heard it here first, folks!

I'm still waiting for my copy, but this sounds like what I was most afraid about concerning Arsenal: cramming vehicles in the same book.
Why? Wasn't it possible to make a Rigger 4, so riggers would be actually worthwhile to play?

yep, been talked about in other threads.

still, i dont really see the problem. as a german proved in the 1930's or so, if you strap a big enough bag of hydrogen or helium to something, it will become lighter then air (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

and as SR4 lacks any way save vehicle body to indicate size, well...

hmm, anyone up for going LTA on the destroyer?

I am unsure how you mean? Riggers would be worthwhile to play? how are they not right now? we got cars, we got planes, we got boats, we got bikes, we got drones and we have a numbe rof rules to mod all of the above. more would be cool ofcoruse. but how is a rigger not worthwhile to play currently? and what style of rigger are you looking for?

I generaly play drone riggers or secrity types when I use them. but a driver is just as vible currently.

No offense to you personally, but that is just bullshit. See, as a customer, I buy a product with a games supplement, and like any customer I can demand a decent product from the producer, and expect the producer - who, after all, lives off MY money - to listen to my complaints and not wave it off by saying "You don't like it? Then make your own!" Where exactly did you get the idea from that in the gaming industry, it's the customer who has to work out the faults of the product? Would you accept, if you bought some meat at WalMart or somewhere, meat that's overdue and smelly, if you returned it, the manager saying "oh, sir, if you don't like our meat, GROW YOUR OWN CATTLE!"?

"If you don't like it, change it" is a cheap cop-out for sloppy work, and that these vehicle rules slipped through certainly is sloppy, at the very least. No amount of fanboyism can change that.

Now, to be fair, most authors actually listen to complaints. It's fanboys who usually come up with that empty argument.

Bwahahahahaha!

I'm not sure the rigger I'm working on can afford one at chargen....

Maybe a second hand one?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif)

Just name it Highwind and give it to Horizon, they get all the flashy manga stuff anyway.